In transporting items in a truck or other vehicle of the type having a tailgate at the rear of a load supporting bed mounted to swing between open and closed positions, it frequently happens that one or more of the items to be transported is somewhat longer than the space available on the truck bed when the tailgate is in its upwardly projecting closed condition. For example, lumber or other building materials may be longer than the truck bed and present a transportation problem. A solution may be to leave the tailgate in an open condition, extending rearwardly or downwardly at the back of the truck, so that the extra length items can project rearwardly beyond the bed. However, the tailgate does not then serve its intended function of confining the load items on the truck and against rearward displacement relative to the bed, and consequently the load must in some other way be tied, strapped, or otherwise secured tightly in place to prevent dangerous rearward shifting or perhaps complete loss of the load under the vibrational and other forces which occur during transportion.
To overcome this problem and increase the versatility and load carrying capacity of trucks and other vehicles of the discussed type, there have in the past been proposed arrangements for providing a second or auxiliary tailgate in an extended length condition of such a vehicle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,773 issued July 30, 1985 to Gareth J. Smith on "Vehicle Tailgate Extension Assembly" shows a device adapted to be attached to the tailgate of a vehicle and which includes an auxiliary tailgate and two side panels hinged thereto in a manner allowing the entire assembly to be opened to a condition extending the effective length of the truck bed or folded to a collapsed condition for normal use of the truck. U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,639 issued Sept. 18, 1984 to Barry E. Bianchi on "Tailgate Attachment For Extending The Cargo Space Of Vehicles" shows a similar collapsible arrangement including an extra tailgate and side panels hinged to the extra tailgate for collapsing or folding movement.